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The Australian Paralympic Team is proudly wearing new designs in Tokyo by Indigenous artist Rehann Lotter, the artwork titled ‘The Journey’.
For Boccia pairing Dan Michel and Ashlee McClure, not only will they be connected by the unique design on their uniforms, but also through an additional design by Lotter that reflects their personal journey as teammates.
Lotter and McClure play football together, so when they started talking about the Paralympics, Lotter offered to help the dual Paralympians come up with a design that reflected their own personal journey.
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When Michel and McClure are on court on Saturday 28 August for the first round of competition, they’ll have their ‘journey’ design proudly represented.
When describing the artwork, Michel said it reflected the journey that he and Ash have shared over the eight plus years.
“Ash and I both live close to the beach so we wanted to integrate that… you have the turtles and blue tones. Further up (on the ramp) you have a chain of circles that represent our family and our support network. Then at the front is myself and Ashlee represented as two little icons,” said Michel.
“The idea of the whole story is we’re at the front and there in behind us is all our support network, family and friends, and it shows where we’re from and what we’re about. It is something that will give us pride when we’re on court that’s for sure,” he said.
Boccia is one of two sports on the Paralympic programme that does not have an Olympic counterpart, the other sport is goalball. It is played exclusively by athletes with high levels of impairment. Competing in wheelchairs, athletes throw, kick or use a ramp device to propel leather balls as close as possible to the ‘jack’.
For athletes like Dan in the BC3 Classification they can have an assistant… which is where Ash comes. It’s a partnership that relies on trust.
“It is important to have someone that you have been with for a long time and me and Ash have that. We have a lot of history together, a lot of matches under our belts, we have been in a lot of different situations on court and it all helps and it will pay dividends come competition time,” said Michel.
Ash believes when it comes to sport, there is no greater partnership.
“I think it is one of the most important relationships in sport. Dan and I have talked through all our game plans together, we have done all the calibration and preparation together. We know that when we are on court he will tell me what to do and I will know what is going on even though I can’t see and that is always really good,” she said.
When they secured their spot at the Rio Paralympics it was the first time Australia had competed since Sydney 2000.
Since then they have gone on to claim a bronze (individual) and silver (pairs) at the 2018 World Championships.
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Michel says while there has been a lack of international competition ahead of the Tokyo Paralympics, he feels the 12 month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed him to better prepare.
“Where I was prior to last year’s Paralympics Games was not as good as where I am now. I have definitely come a long way from a technical aspect and it gave me a bit more time to refine a few things that I was putting on the back burner because I didn’t have enough time to look at them, so I was able to go ahead and change a few things which has made me a better player.
“But on the flip side, not having the competition has made it more difficult to know where you are and you have to base what things were 18 months ago and anything could have changed between then and now.
“I guess, seeing what has been happening on the practice courts here is encouraging and I feel good about what I have done with my preparation and I think overall it has been a positive.
“Last time around (Rio 2016) I was still pretty new to international competition and was certainly new to the spotlight of a Paralympic Games so I think I know what to expect from that perspective this time around.
“Obviously we aren’t going to have the public interaction but I think the spotlight being on you can make things seem bigger than they are so I definitely have that experience and I think I will lean on it during competition,” he said.
Watch the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games live and free on Seven and 7plus from August 24 – September 5.
First up in the Boccia is the individual competition that gets underway on Saturday 28 August, with Michel and McClure also lining up in the team events.
Australia will field its largest boccia team in more than two decades with Michel/McClure will be joined by Paralympic debutants Spencer Cotie and assistant Zoe Dix as well as Jamieson Leeson who is joined by her assistant and mum, Amanda Leeson.
Preliminary rounds (singles)
Saturday 28 August
6:25pm – Dan Michel vs Somboon Chaipanich (THA)
6:25pm – Spencer Cotie vs Stefania Ferrando (ARG)
Sunday 29 August
11.55pm – Dan Michel vs Maria Bjurstrom (SWE)
11.55pm – Spencer Cotie vs Jamie McCowan (GBR)
Monday 30 August
6:25pm – Dan Michel vs Evelyn de Oliveira (BRA)
6:25pm – Spencer Cotie vs Scott McCowan (GBR)
By: Paralympics Australia
Posted: 28 August 2021
